Are We under a "New Covenant" Yet?

Arguments about whether or not we are now under the "Old Covenant" or "New Covenant" are rather moot when we realize the new covenant has NOT yet been established. Christians largely interpret the page just before the Book of Matthew, titled "New Testament", to mean: everything that follows is representative of the "New Covenant", in which we now live. There are many reasons or proofs that this is not the case. Lets first consider Jeremiah 31 where the concept of a new covenant largely originates.

Jeremiah 31:31-40 (TS98)
(31)  “See, the days are coming,” declares , “when I shall make a new covenant with the house of Yisra’el and with the house of Yehudah, 
(32)  not like the covenant I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Mitsrayim, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them,” declares ..l.
(33)  “For this is the covenant I shall make with the house of Yisra’el after those days, declares : I shall put My Torah in their inward parts, and write it on their hearts. And I shall be their Elohim, and they shall be My people.
(34)  “And no longer shall they teach, each one his neighbor, and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know ,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares . “For I shall forgive their crookedness, and remember their sin no more.”
(35)  Thus said , who gives the sun for a light by day, and the laws of the moon and the stars for a light by night, who stirs up the sea, and its waves roar – of hosts is His Name:
(36)  “If these laws vanish from before Me,” declares , “then the seed of Yisra’el shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever.”
(37)  Thus said , “If the heavens above could be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I would also cast off all the seed of Yisra’el for all that they have done,” declares .l.
(38)  “See, the days are coming,” declares , “that the city shall be built for from the Tower of Hanan’el to the Corner Gate.
(39)  “And the measuring line shall again extend straight ahead to the hill Gareb, then it shall turn toward Go'ah.
(40)  “And all the valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the wadi Qidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, is to be set-apart to . It shall not be plucked up or thrown down any more forever.”

Things which have NOT happened yet:

• Verses 31 & 32 indicate the covenant is being made with Israel and Judah, not non-Israelite peoples. The preceding verses and the preceding chapter indicate Israel and Judah will both be regathered to the Land of Israel. Currently, only a remnant of Judah has been regathered. 10-Israel or Ephraim is still largely living in a state preceding the repentance and restoration prophesied in Verse 17-20. 
• Verse 33 indicates we will no longer be taught by man, but instead by the Ruakh of the assembly's Husband, . The Torah, the marriage covenant, will be put in the inward parts of both Israel and Judah, thus they will have an inward compulsion to do and understanding how to do Torah. One may argue some individuals already do this, but anyone thinking the entire assembly of Israel and Judah are both living out Torah in such a manner are diluting themselves.
• Verse 34 also indicates that there will be no evangelists preaching AFTER the new covenant is given. Do we have evangelists in the world?

The Confirming Witness of Revelation 19

Revelation 19:7-9
(7)  “Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him praise, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife prepared herself.”
(8)  And to her it was given to be dressed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the set-apart ones.
(9)  And he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who have been called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true words of Elohim.”

It should be more than apparent that the New Covenant is not actually established and active YET. Not only is Israel and Judah still largely scattered around the world, but Judah's modern nation is little more than an occasional rebellious semi-autonomous province of Daughter Babylon (i.e., USA). When Messiah restores all his people to the Land (ALL twelve tribes) where Torah is the national constitution embraced and known from the inward parts of all citizens, then we will know the New Covenant has been established.

So what should we be doing in the mean time?

A betrothed woman has many efforts set before her... namely, keeping herself clean from other "proverbial" men (e.g., the ways of other pagan religious systems). The betrothed should also realize that Jeremiah 31:32 does not indicate she will be given a different covenant, but the giving of or the receipt of it will be different (e.g., it will be written on her heart, not re-given on stone tablets). This means it behooves her to familiarize herself with the original Torah that was given to her ancestors. In my view, we should be observing all the Torah now that is possible to be observed. Even for Christians or Messianics, they should remember that even Yeshua/Jesus indicated all those doing and teaching others to do that which is in the Torah will be called the greatest in the future Kingdom (Matthew 5:19).

Even though it is very apparent that we should be observing Torah, we must all store up alot of grace and patience for others who may live out Torah in ways that we may think are in error. There is much room for interpretation and debate. This doesn't mean discussions and midrash should be avoided because of the inevitable disagreement. We should simply be loving and not argumentative when the disagreements come.

Shalom Aleichem,
Hanok ben-Isaak

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